What is currently your favorite project/piece of work and why?

This may not fly well on a Flash-centric website, but I recently completed (along with my coworker John Brown) a complete replication of my employer's website in HTML/CSS/Javascript from Flash. It's a gorgeous site and I think we've actually made it smoother, and better looking by switching to web standards. Web-ready fonts and type rendering through OS X are an absolute dream.

What is your favorite font?

HF&J's Sentinel is tickling my fancy lately:

 It's a gorgeous typeface and it makes the drivel I write look important.

What makes you motivated to wake up daily and go to work?

A crippling sense of self-worthlessness.

How do you balance your personal life and work?

Poorly, I don't sleep as much as I'd like.

What was your first job?

I worked the frier at a pizza place across the street from my high school. I was fifteen at the time, I distinctly remember dreaming of making ten dollars an hour while working there. Time flies.

Do you feel your current job will be relevant in 5 years? Why?

Absolutely. It won't look exactly like it does today, however. I am technically a "web designer" at my day job, which in reality entails a general knowledge of web design and front-end web development. As the web grows and standards are adopted and introduced those in a similar position will almost certainly have to specialize, which is a somewhat scary proposition.

Do you believe a formal education is beneficial for the type of work that you do?

I think that question has considerably less to do with the position in question–especially in the creative field, and more to do with the person. If you're not extremely self-motivated and at least somewhat passionate you may need a formal education to get your chops, but in my experience those that are self-taught tend to care about the work more and aren't just going through the motions. Those that care seem to do the best. Full disclosure: I've attempted to go to school a number of times but have yet to make it all the way through, I've had 3 different majors, only one of them creative.

What manner of death would you prefer and why?

Quick. I'd like about six hours warning so I could be pensive and write down some last thoughts, then I'd like to be flipped off like a lightswitch. Barring that, macaroni & cheese overdose:

( source )

If you had to pick a weapon to defend the world from space invaders, what would the weapon be?

A knife. A small knife.

If you were given the chance to meet one person, past or present, who would it be and why?

This changes fairly often, but at the moment I'd like to meet Bertrand Russell:

( source )

 I would like for him to explain the world to me.

I hope you all enjoyed this series of questions and answers, and thanks to nobody for answering them. To learn more about how all of this came about, read this forum thread where the idea of interviewing forum members was conceived.

Just a final word before we wrap up. If you have a question and/or want to be part of a friendly, collaborative community of over 220k other developers like yourself, post on the forums for a quick response!